The Pen and the Sword
Dr. Draper, in his “Intellectual Development of Europe,” says,—
“Within twenty-five years after the death of Mohammed, under Ali, the fourth Khalif, the patronage of learning had become a settled principle of the Mohammedan system. Some of the maxims current show how much literature was esteemed.”
“The ink of the doctor is equally valuable with the blood of the martyr.
“Paradise is as much for him who has rightly used the pen, as for him who has fallen by the sword.”
The Best Service
When General R. B. Hayes was nominated by the Republican party for the Presidency, he made use, in his letter of acceptance, of the expression, “He serves his party best who serves his country best.” A clue to this phrase, which was frequently repeated afterwards, will be found in Pope’s translation of the tenth book of Homer’s Iliad, where Nestor goes through the camp to wake up the captains, and arousing Diomed says,—
“Each single Greek, in his conclusive strife,
Stands on the sharpest edge of death or life.
Yet if my years thy kind regard engage,